


What's Inside

by NeonDreams



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Dark, Gen, Monsters, creepy town
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 04:46:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11707104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonDreams/pseuds/NeonDreams
Summary: Danny always had a habit of disappearing for a month or two then coming back with a story.  He started doing it when he was fourteen.  His parents were worried but he always came back happy and healthy.It became a thing among his peers.  When will Danny leave again?  Where will he go?  It was a game to them.  For Danny, he’d just get these urges to go, move, do.  So he would.





	What's Inside

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first post of a new roleplay between me and sweetiefiend over on Tumblr. I liked it so much I thought I'd post it over here. I might change it to Danny and Arin later if I want to expand on it but for right now it's my OC Danny (who's heavily influenced by Dan Avidan) and her OC Julie.
> 
> They live in New York so no one gets confused.
> 
> This was also influenced by Welcome to Night Vale and Supernatural while I was writing.

Danny always had a habit of disappearing for a month or two then coming back with a story. He started doing it when he was fourteen. His parents were worried but he always came back happy and healthy.

It became a thing among his peers. When will Danny leave again? Where will he go? It was a game to them. For Danny, he’d just get these urges to go, move, do. So he would.

When he was sixteen though, he disappeared for six months, the longest he had ever been gone. Everyone was worried. When he came back, he was perfectly fine though maybe a little quiet and with no story to tell.

It happened again at seventeen. He was gone for six months then came back quiet and with no story. The last time it happened, he was eighteen. When he came back, it was as if none of this had ever happened. He was back to normal though he had no story to tell.

It was late spring, school was coming to a close and Danny had been home for a few months. He went to his best friend’s house, Julie, and climbed up to her window and knocked in the middle of the night. She let him in, like always and he sat on the floor. HE did have a story to tell.

When he was sixteen, Danny had wanted to go see the circus two states over. He was hitchhiking there and got stranded in the middle of no where. There was just tall grass on either side of the road. He walked for a while and soon it was dark. That night there was a new moon. The stars were out but the sky was dark. Everything was dark. At some point, he came across a motel. It was sitting there by itself, no town around or near it. Danny looked at the big neon sign. Moon Phases Inn. The outline was in blue, the words white with an animated moon going through the phases under it. Full, three quarters, half, one quarter, and new. It was broken though and the sign was flashing between full and new as if the other phases weren’t there. It said it had vacancy though so he headed inside.

the lobby was dimly lit. There was no one behind the desk so he decided to look around. He found out he was in Pennsylvania, looking at the address on the outdated farming magazines on the desk. There was a monthly calendar behind the desk. It said it was October and every day was X’d out except for the 31st. It was Halloween. He looked at the pictures on the walls. There was one of the owners in front of the new motel but there use to be a town around it. He wondered what happened. There was also a picture of a farm with a windmill. If he looked at it long enough, it looked like the windmill was spinning slowly. He looked away at another picture. It was of the owners. They were young here but not as young in the other picture. He glanced away and when he looked back, the couple was older. He frowned and looked at a picture of a cow. He looked back at the couple and they were even older. Old enough to be grandparents. The man’s hair was white. It had been black the first time he looked… right?

Danny stepped back and turned around to find an old woman behind the desk. He jumped and shouted. She just held out a key to his room and pointed upstairs. HE took it with a soft thanks and headed up.

The stairs creaked as he walked. The hallway was narrow and none of the doors were marked. How was he suppose to know which one was his? He looked down at his key and the tag was blank too. He sighed in frustration and turned around to go downstairs but found the end of the hall. Hadn’t he had just been facing that way? He glanced over his shoulder and saw the stairs. He turned around and was facing the end of the hall again. What? He glanced over his shoulder again and the stair were still behind him. He looked to his left to find a picture of a windmill on the wall. Was it moving? He looked to his right to find a door. He tilted the picture and turned around again. Still facing the same way. He looked to his left and there was a door. He looked to his right and the windmill picture was crooked on the wall. A shiver went down his spine and he fixed it before continuing down the hall.

He got to the door at the end of the hall. It had a brass label on it but the numbers were worn away. He looked at his key and the tag now had faded pencil marks on it. He didn’t want to try and go back so he slipped the key into the lock and turned. It worked. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was small. It had one window opposite the door with lacy curtains. The bed was on the right with a floral print blanket and white sheets. There was a small armchair in the far corner. He turned on the light and it flickered to life. He closed and locked the door behind him, placing the key on the table next to him. The numbers on the door became clear.

666

Danny opened the window and a cool fall breeze came in. He pulled the blanket back. The bed was a big springy but for one night it’ll be fine. He took off his shoes and jeans, closed the window and got into bed. He drifted off to sleep.

When he woke i nthe morning, it was bright and sunny out. He stepped out of his room and locked the door, pocketing the key. HE was able to go downstairs and the lobby felt different. Last night it had been dim and cold. Now it was bright and warm. Outside he could hear cars and he looked out the front window. He was in the middle of a rural town. How the hell-

“Good morning! You must be Danny.” Danny spun around to find a middle aged woman smiling from behind the desk. “Breakfast is being served if you’re hungry.” She gestured to the dining room. He thanked her and went to eat with the other guests. He pulled out his phone to find it dead. He sighed and put it back in his pocket. After breakfast, he looked at the pictures on the walls. There were clippings from the local newspaper about it being the best inn in the area. Pictures of smiling people. No windmill and no creepy aging couple. The calendar said it was November first.

He wandered round town. It was perfect and quiet, with a little tourist activity. He spent all day there then started walking. He wanted to move on. But as night fell and he found himself in the middle of nowhere agin, he came across the Moon Phases Inn, standing alone on the side of the road. But how? He looked behind him and it was just dark. He went inside. It was like the night before. Creepy and quiet. He found he still had the key so he went straight up to his room. He slept through the whole night.

The next day went exactly the same as the first. And when he tried to leave at night, he ended up at the inn again. Standing alone. This cycle kept happening. IT was like he was caught in a loop. After a few weeks, he realized that everything was the same, every single time. It was like the movie Groundhog Day. HE didn’t know how to get out of it. When he tried to do something different like not eat breakfast, or just stay in his room all day then leave at night, he’d always end up back there. The moon on the sign was always broken, he could never get to the stairs once he was up there. For months he tried to escape. He even tried to climb out the window at night but ended up back at the inn like always.

It was mid April when he had had enough. He was going crazy. That morning he ate breakfast and left the key at the desk. Every time he always pocketed it but this time he kept it in his hand. He put it on the desk and backed out of the inn, making sure it stayed there. He then started to run. He ran back the way he came. Instead of going West like he always did, he went East, back home. He ran for as long as he could until the town was out of sight. Then he kept walking and walking. As the sun set, he came across a town and almost thought he ended back where he started but no. This was one he had passed through back at the beginning of his trip. He sighed in relief. He was finally able to go home.

Danny ended his story and looked at Julie. Once he was home, he couldn’t remember the last six months. It was just a blur.

He didn’t leave until winter of that year. He wanted to go South where it was warm. Sit on the beach and soak up the sun. He took a bus this time and it was a long trip. He made it in record time and stayed there for a few weeks getting tan. When he was ready to go home, he took a bus back. It broke down half way there in North Carolina. He got off the bus to stretch his legs. He looked around and decided to explore the fields around them. He walked a ways, his back pack over his shoulders. He turned back and found the road empty. Shit, did he get off track? Where was the bus? If it was behind him, it’d end up passing him when they got it working. If it was in front of him, he’d miss it. So he started walking. He didn’t realize it was getting dark until he could barely see. It was night. He kept walking and came across a motel. It was sitting there by itself, no town around or near it. Danny looked at the big neon sign. Moon Phases Inn. The outline was in blue, the words white with an animated moon going through the phases under it. Full, three quarters, half, one quarter, and new. It was broken though and the sign was flashing between full and new as if the other phases weren’t there. It said it had vacancy though so he headed inside.

He paused his story to tell her he had no memory of the first time he went there. So this was all so new to him.

when he stepped inside, he felt something in his pocket and found a key. He headed upstairs without question and went to his room. Another six months went by. When he was finally able to get away, he came across his bus from before. They had just finished fixing it. He got on and went home, forgetting it ever happened.

He waited a whole years before leaving again. He left in the dead of summer, wanting to go North this time. Maybe go to Chicago, see the windy city. He packed up, ready for the long trip. He had a car now so there was no stopping him. He started driving and made it to Indiana before his car was low on gas. He just made it to a small town and fueled up before the station closed for the night. It was getting dark and he was tired. He left his car at the gas station and walked around town as the sun was setting. He came across the Moon Phases Inn.

He paused again. “This is where everything changed. I found the inn while it was still light out instead of alone on a road at night. You’d think it would break whatever’s been happening to me but no. It made it worse.”

When he stepped inside, a middle aged woman was standing behind the desk. He paid for a room, something he had never done before, and went upstairs. He got the same room at the end of the hall, labeled 999. He settled in and went to bed shortly after.

When he woke in the morning, everything felt wrong. He left the room to find the door labeled 666. He backed away slowly and turned around to find the door still. He couldn’t go downstairs. He backed away and went down backwards. The lobby was covered in desk, spiders in their webs in the corners. Outside was a ghost town. The buildings still stood but they were empty and falling apart. His car was gone. And no matter where he went, he could feel something following him. Something dark moving just out of sight that he could only see out of the corner of his eye. It looked like big black dogs with bloody teeth. He wandered the town but found no way out. It was like the apocalypse had hit the town. As night fell, the dark shapes got more curious and more courageous. HE ran back to the inn and hid in his room.

He quickly learned not to stay out at night. Whatever was out there wanted to kill him. He had a few close calls. Dogs barking and chasing him all the way to the inn door. He could hear them scratching at the wood.

He lost all sense of time. He never went hungry, there was always food in the kitchen but he couldn’t stay in the creepy inn all day. He had to find a way out. There was a moment, right as the sun was setting where everything goes quiet and still. He could almost see a shimmer of the lively town. He was once at the old general store when this happened. He saw his car if he squinted and he started running for it. He didn’t make it. The monsters that lived there chased after him. he just made it.

After that day, they didn’t let him near the gas station. They’d chase him back to the inn. He once got trapped in the old library and they fought their way in. He threw books at them as he climbed to the second floor. Now he was stuck. He saw his only chance as the skittered up the stairs. He jumped out the window. He twisted his ankle on the landing and couldn’t run. He didn’t make it to the inn. They surrounded him and everything went black.

His eyes flew up and he found himself in bed at the inn. His ankle didn’t hurt at all. He sat up and he could smell bacon cooking. He grabbed his stuff and went downstairs to find a lively inn. He was confused but he ate breakfast with everyone. He went outside and the town was normal again. He walked over to his car. It had a full tank of gas and it still worked. He plugged his phone in to charge and found that it was six months later. He drove home. As he drove, he could remember everything and the other two trips as well. The farther he got from the town though, the better he felt. It didn’t bother him what had happened.

He ended his story and stared at his hands. “After graduation I think I’m gonna move. Far away. Maybe to California. I was looking into colleges over there. I won’t be mad if you never want to talk to me again. I know I sound crazy. It’s all true though. One of the monsters scratched me at some point.” He pulled up his sleeve to reveal three long scratches up the inside of his forearm. “I know it’s real. But I need to get away.” He climbed out her window without looking at her and went home.

True to his word, he left after graduation and moved to California. He didn’t talk to Julie for years until suddenly one night, he knocked on her window.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at <http://twinklesbrightly.tumblr.com> Thanks for reading!


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